Herlz
'''Herlz '''is a main character of the seventh Felidae novel: Felipolis. He's a Chartusian tomcat of Austrian origin. He's met by Francis inside the Domino's villa gardens after both cats were attracted by what was happening. Herls displays a friendly behavior speaking with his strict Austrian dialect: the Chartusian proves to be a clever cat and intellectual as Francis, being interested about the question of the inheritance given to an animal like the cat Domino. When Francis investigate and got himself inside a dangerous pool full with large koi fishes, Herlz and Josef manage to drag in safety the detective. After a failed plot by Clint and his comrades to kill Francis, the protagonist meets again Herlz when he remains alone after having rejected the support of his friends to not put their lives too in danger. Herlz has kind words for Francis and show him the camps of the human protestants of the animalist radical group "Animal Army" and Herlz helps Francis to find shelter there. Revelations (spoiler): What seemed to be a friendly help, turns to be something of more obscure because Francis realize only when it's too much late that the "shelter" was in fact the inside of a balloon, to be conducted in air by the human leader of the Animal Army for a choreographic protest on the roof of the villa. The human is then killed by a mysterious aggressor and the same life of Francis was put in danger by the risk of crashing of the same balloon, while investigating inside the villa, the detective discover the kinship between Domino and Herlz. The pretty she-cat is actually the daughter of the Austrian cat and both are revealed to works on the Felipolis project, being also responsible for the killings to accomplish their ideals. A written destiny. (spoiler): When Francis face both Domino and Herlz in front of a crowd of cats, the detective is surprised to find Herlz's dream being not so different from the deep desires of him: the Austrian cat was dreaming of creating a true independent nation for cats, able to live their lives separated from humans, and with the help of the money inherited by Domino, they were going to achieve this "Felipolis" also with the help of the human Marc Forster (a former student in zoology, that was aware of the cats intelligence). But Herlz had not expected the human greed, and despite the Francis's warnings, he doesn't foresee the Marc's betrayals until it's too late: the human and his followers had trapped the whole cats gathered to travel to the "Felipolis" into an abandoned Academy that has a crematorium chamber. There both Herlz and his daughter Domino are betrayed and forced inside the chamber by Marc, that kill them activating the burning mechanism. Legacy Herlz's dream is destined to remain unaccomplished. Even if the cats, led by Francis and Sancta, manage to reach Koroyama by plane, this paradisiac island into the Indian Ocean manage to be only a temporary holiday for the cats before the human masters manage to organize the recovery of the animals. Name meaning and significance. In the novel is make direct mention that Herlz earned his name after Theodor Herlz, the father of the Sionist movement. The actions of Herlz reflects a "Zionist" dream of searching a Promised Land has done by jewish settlers in Palestine at the beginning of the last century. Herlz (cat) actions are conducted by an intense desire to find a home for his race in a similar way of the human Zionist movement before the founding of Israel state. It's also sadly ironic that his demise is similar to the one of so many Jews during the extermination under the Nazism. It's important however that this parallelism in Felipolis's books has not to be seen as an "anti-Semitic" element, indeed Herlz and Francis share the same desire and Francis understand (even if he disapproves and fight) the Herlz's action. Details about Theodor Herzl on Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Theodor_Herzl Category:Characters Category:Males Category:Cats Category:Villains